Tobacco bill imposes undue burden on shops

Last Monday, Sen. Richard Codey (D-Livingston) proposed raising the legal age to purchase tobacco from 19 to 21 years. I consider Sen. Codey a respected statesman and gifted legislator whose dedication and commitment to improving public and mental health is unsurpassed. However, I cannot support yet another radical proposal infringing upon the rights and freedoms of adults in New Jersey, especially one denying adults the ability to purchase legal products while placing additional burdens on small businesses.

This legislation would require convenience stores to police their customers to ensure the law is upheld. Our members have consistently partnered with legislators and local law enforcement to comply with rules and regulations aimed at taking dangerous, mind-altering bath salts and synthetic marijuana off the streets, but this proposal burdens small-business owners who make a living selling coffee, drinks, snacks and newspapers, which accompany tobacco purchases.

Further, Sen. Codey’s bill proposes only penalties for the seller, not the purchaser. As a matter of personal responsibility and individual accountability, if one attempts to manipulate a store clerk into unlawfully dispensing tobacco, that individual should also be responsible for his or her actions.

It is the right of every adult consumer to decide which products to indulge in and which to abstain from. Only through education and awareness can tobacco use be combated. Failing that, it won’t matter if the legal age to purchase tobacco is 21, 25 or 30 — adults have a right to make choices without Statehouse interference.

If young men and women can vote, get married, serve in the armed forces and be legally adult members of society at 18, there is no reason to delay their decision to purchase or not purchase tobacco products until 21 years of age.

-- Jacy Lance,
Springfield
The writer is director of communications and research for the New Jersey Gasoline, C-Store, Automotive Association (njgca.org).

Hopewell wants to buy a pig in a poke

Opponents of the Marshall’s Corner Pennytown redevelopment project shouldn’t fold their tents and move on yet. It appears the mayor isn’t about to throw in the towel anytime soon on the project.

At a recent meeting, the resolution for the purchase of the “hole in the donut” parcel (lot 10, block 33) was still on the agenda. In the past, when questioned about issues pertaining to the redevelopment plan since it was allegedly shelved, the mayor responded by saying that the project is not moving forward and so the issues are no longer relevant.

I wonder, then, why there is a resolution on the agenda to purchase the land. Could it be an attempt at backdoor politics to move the redevelopment project forward? At a cost of $580,000, it appears to be another waste of taxpayer dollars on a project that is allegedly off the table. There would also be hidden costs after the purchase for demolishing the structures and clearing the land.

When questioned about the purpose of the acquisition, the township administrator/engineer said it was needed to augment the existing sewer plant. But that’s the same sewer facility that was deemed adequate when the township made the original purchase of Marshall’s Corner (for $7 million).

I question why we need 2.3 more acres for a site that would service 70 affordable housing units, when the Kooltronics/Pennytown site only required one acre of land to service 265 housing units. It appears that this is just another case of gross mismanagement of taxpayer dollars and an attempt to cover up the lack of good judgment and poor planning by our elected officials.

-- Richard W. Yager,
Hopewell Township

Land preservation needs sustainable funds

New Jersey’s open space, farmland and historic preservation programs are out of funds and New Jersey is at risk of having decades of successful preservation efforts grind to a halt, jeopardizing critical lands that generate billions of dollars in economic benefits, protect our water resources and improve our quality of life.

However, efforts to secure long-term, sustainable preservation took a huge step forward this week. We thank state Sens. Bob Smith (D-Piscataway), Christopher “Kip” Bateman (R-Somerville) and Jim Whelan (D-Northfield) for their bipartisan sponsorship of landmark legislation to establish a dedicated source of funding for open space, recreation, farmland and historic preservation programs in New Jersey.

The state Senate Environment and Energy committee, including the three sponsors and Sen. Linda R. Greenstein (D-Monroe), voted with bipartisan support to approve landmark legislation that would ask voters to dedicate a small portion of state sales tax revenues to renew and sustain these critical programs.

The legislation is modeled after the successful Garden State Preservation Trust Act and is a fiscally sound approach that won’t increase taxes or debt.

The percentage of sales tax revenues to be dedicated under the proposal is just one-fifth of one cent of the state’s 7-cent sales tax, generating more than $200 million a year.

With no new money available to continue New Jersey’s preservation legacy, our legislative leaders must act now to pass this legislation through the full Assembly and Senate and give voters the chance to vote “yes” for continued open-space funding on the ballot this November.

Legalizing marijuana regulates its accessibility

I write in response to the letter “Legalizing marijuana is a very bad idea” (May 24). In high school, marijuana, cocaine and PCP were available to me every day, alcohol less so. Why? Because the illegal marketplace created by drug laws encourages sales to minors, while regulated marketers fear losing their profit-making licenses if they are caught selling to minors.

Illegal drugs are stronger and cheaper than ever. On the other hand, tobacco, sold legally, is in decline. Tobacco regulations — taxes, especially — have reduced teen smoking and created funds to pay tobacco’s cost to society.

If marijuana is a gateway drug, it is because it is illegal. It is nothing like cocaine, meth or heroin, yet by lumping it in with those drugs, lawmakers create a pathway to the underground market. “Medical marijuana” exists because the DEA refuses to allow pharmaceutical companies to investigate marijuana’s medical uses.

Keeping marijuana illegal creates a free marketplace: The drug kingpin pays no taxes, abides no labor or safety laws, has no paperwork. The corner dealer needs no business loans, no working papers. Occasional arrests promote upward mobility within the drug underworld. Taxpayers feed, clothe, house, provide health care for and guard millions of people caught with drugs (51 percent of federal prisoners). We pay while kingpins profit.

When is the last time we heard about a shootout between dealers of alcohol or tobacco? Violence is the natural outcome of a highly profitable, lawless business. In Colorado, marijuana stores are free from violence and street dealing is disappearing, as it did in Amsterdam, the Netherlands.